The recent explosion of obesity, type II diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers in the United States can be largely attributed to two key well-known factors, a lack of a healthy diet and reduced physical activity. Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease are components of the “metabolic syndrome”, an umbrella term for maladies typically developed as a consequence of being overweight/obese and physically inactive. Studies have shown that physical activity and reduced calorie intake, or “calorie restriction” inhibit degenerative and chronic disease, especially those of the metabolic syndrome and cancer.
Obesity is a chronic disease that is prevalent in modern society and is associated not only with a social stigma, but also with decreased life span and numerous medical problems—obesity is a primary risk factor for type II diabetes mellitus and is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cancer as well. Much of this obesity-induced pathology can be attributed to the strong association with dyslipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance. Many studies have demonstrated that reduction in obesity by diet and exercise reduces these risk factors dramatically. Unfortunately these treatments are largely unsuccessful with a failure rate reaching 95%. This failure may be due to the fact that the condition is strongly associated with genetically inherited factors that contribute to increased appetite, preference for highly caloric foods, reduced physical activity, and increased lipogenic metabolism. This indicates that people inheriting these genetic traits are prone to becoming obese regardless of their efforts to combat the condition.
Existing therapies for obesity include standard diets and exercise, very low calorie diets, behavioral therapy, pharmacotherapy involving appetite suppressants, thermogenic drugs, and food absorption inhibitors, mechanical devices such as jaw wiring, waist cords, balloons, and surgery (Jung and Chong. Clinical Endocrinology. 1991, 35:11-20; Bray. Am J Clin Nutr. 1992, 55:538S-544S). Because dieting and exercise produce only modest results, researchers have searched for a compound to accelerate the loss of body fat. However, of the drugs currently allowed for use over a long time period, sibutramine, an appetite depressant, and orlistat, a lipase inhibitor, have side effects including headaches, polydipsia (serious thirst), insomnia, constipation, hypertension, and increased pulse rate and fecal incontinence, frequent or urgent bowel movements, steatorrhea, and a reduction in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, respectively.
There remains a need for additional compositions and methods for the treatment of obesity, diabetes, and various cancers.